Tag Archives: missed opportunities

It looks as if there’s a rapid transit line in Winnipeg’s future. Problem solved, right? Wrong. The choice facing us now is whether or not we succeed in building a viable system, one that provides a better service than the buses on Pembina Highway do, and one that creates new economic opportunities while fighting sprawl and improving the environment.

The question hinges on the accessibility of the stations, and on land use regulations adjacent to them. If the stations are readily accessible, rapid transit can create new development opportunities, contribute to the clean-up of our environment, and provide a much-needed transportation option to all those who do not have access to an automobile, or prefer convenient public transportation. To the extent that they are not, users of rapid transit will have experiences similar to those I had in Miami last summer, and Winnipeg’s development will suffer accordingly. As I write this, the prognosis is not good.Continue reading →

7 January 2018
I thought my former home, the US, had hit rock bottom when President Nixon’s credibility was so low that he felt the need to proclaim ”I’m not a crook.” What am I to think when President Trump has to reassure the public he’s not mentally unbalanced?

13 November 2017 Although most of us shop at the likes of Walmart and Costco by necessity, I prefer to shop at small, local businesses. If you feel the way I do, click here for a quick rundown on the reasons why small business is good for the community and a succinct list of policies to support it.

6 September 2017
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau has given up on proportional representation. Have you? Want to know more about it? This article from a US environmental advocacy group provides clear explanations of my favourite PR system and links to a wealth of supplementary material.

31 August 2017
Why did the word “monopoly”, referring to big business, fall out of fashion? Should it have?

15 May 2017
Will “ride-sharing” services like Uber promote road-pricing and strengthen public transportation in North American cities? Possibly, but, any way you slice it, they’re cheap labour. Dark times for cabbies.

23 January 2017
How Vancouver became North America’s car-free capital: A really well-done short video, informative viewing for anyone with an interest in cities. Click to start video, click again for full screen.

6 May 2016
Low oil prices are supposed to stimulate economic growth. Instead, we have cheap oil and economic stagnation. In the kind of research-rich journalism we need a lot more of, Andrew Nikiforuk calls this situation a “civilization shrinker”.

15 April 2016Click to enlarge
What you need to know about Hyperloop a radical new passenger and freight transportation technology that has some heavyweight backers. It’ll be interesting to see if anything comes of it.

19 February 2016
The biggest blind spot of urban greens: zoning. The argument this article makes refers to Cascadia, but it applies equally to the rest of Canada and the U.S.

15 February 2016
With governments preparing to regulate driverless cars, they’re on the way to becoming a social, economic, and legal reality — but they leave us with a host of question marks. Here’s a brief overview of the issues we face.

8 January 2016
If you’ve been hearing about the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, and you’re tempted to think Americans are all crazy, you might be interested in a view from the Oregon mainstream.

30 December 2015Fight for $15 We live in the wealthiest society in world history. When are we going to admit to ourselves that some hard-working people, living amid that wealth, can’t feed their families?

28 December 2015
Bad street design kills people. The bad design referred to is the kind most often recommended by traffic engineers. Click on the links in the article for good supporting data.

25 December 2015
A short history of global emissions from fossil fuel burning: A fascinating video that uses an animated map of the world to show how the causes of global warming have proliferated in Europe, the Americas and Asia.

23 December 2015
When you shop at Amazon, you’re not getting as big a bargain as you think. Here’s an infographic account of the real costs.

13 December 2015
Grappling with homelessness: Portland, Oregon follows Los Angeles, Seattle and Hawaii in declaring a homelessness emergency. Some time ago, a Canadian source pointed to problems of the vulnerably housed.

29 October 2015
Minimum wages in many countries look a little bit better when purchasing power is taken into account, but they’re still egregiously low. A table near the end of this article summarises the data.

28 August 2015
Our ancestors:Click to enlarge photo
A statue in Portsmouth, England, commemorating the many emigrants who left Portsmouth and Southhampton to start new lives in North America. By extension, they represent the ancestries of most North Americans, who arrived here after taking a leap in the dark.

7 June 2015
This place matters: The US National Trust for Historic Preservation has launched an ingenious campaign, using social media to get people involved in identifying places that matter to them.Click on picture
Here’s a place that matters to Winnipeg: The Forks, commemorating the centuries during which the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine has been a meeting-place and marking the point at which Winnipeg stopped turning its back on the rivers.

3 May 2015
Toronto, which has Canada’s highest rate of working poverty, has also reversed the time honoured North American pattern of suburban affluence and inner-city decay. In the Toronto region, poverty is worst in the suburbs. For details click here and here and here.

12 April 2015
Large-scale production of public utilities and centralised sanitation networks made the modern city as we know it. Are we now starting to shift toward more localized production of the services we all need? A clear, succinct, scholarly assessment.

29 March 2015
Everyone wants to be the new Dubai. So far, Belgrade, Serbia; Machakos, a largely rural area in Kenya, and Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) have jumped on the bandwagon. Who’s driving it, and what do they stand to gain?

23 January 2015
Designing roads for a higher “level of service” isn’t about safety. Click here for a thoughtful comment about what it takes to make streets really safe.

22 January 2015
In terms of income inequality, New York resembles Swaziland, Chicago is comparable to El Salvador, and San Francisco to Madagascar. Look for that and more about inequality here.

19 January 2015Click on picture
Don’t try to tell a German bureaucrat that brevity is the soul of wit. Translation of the sign: “No parking motor vehicles or bicycles. Violators will be towed at owner’s expense.”

8 December 2014
Know anyone on Winnipeg City Council who relies on council salary for income? Tell your councillor you support the city’s existing provisions for a modest severance allowance to keep her/him going while looking for another job — or prepare for a council of developers, well-off lawyers and business people.

4 December 2014Cutbacks, cutbacks, cutbacks: We North Americans and west Europeans live in the wealthiest society in world history. Why is so much of our politics about cutbacks? (If you see ads when you click, scroll down.)

28 November 2014
Despite some progress toward gender equality, women still suffer disproportionately from poverty, violence, inadequate housing, and a long list of other ills. Look up chapter and verse here.

20 October 2014Data vacuum makes it hard to track poverty. Is this the real reason for the Harper government’s cancellation of the long-form census? (If you don’t have information about them, you may not have to help them.)

11 August 20Click on pictureThis riveting video tells the story of Bete Desta, a Winnipeg-based aid organization that helps orphans and poor children in Korem, Ethiopia, while keeping them at home. To contribute, call 204-997-5358 or 204-334-0322.

24 July 2014Click to see the whole picture
Winnipeg signals its dislike of cyclists: In English, the sign implies they’re trying to deny cars the right to use the street. In French the implication is that bicycles aren’t vehicles. (Judging by behaviour, some drivers think of them as toys that shouldn’t be on the street.)

1 May 2014
An opera about Robert Moses, the controversial city builder, and Jane Jacobs, who fought him to a standstill over plans for a freeway across Lower Manhattan. Read this article and follow the links.

For an example of the good results that the federal-provincial immigration and settlement program achieved, take a look at this study. (To skip the theoretical genuflections, start with the last paragraph on p. 494.)

14 April 2014
For the remarkable story of a reclusive, talented artist who took riveting pictures of life on the streets of Chicago while making her living as a nanny, click here.

3 February 2014
Financial journalists failed to connect dots, and, in 2008, left abusive, reckless, and criminal corporations free to drag the global economy into the abyss, says the author of The Watchdog that Didn’t Bark.